Thanks everyone I will try out some of the tips mentioned :thumbup:

Just checked it out it's really cool thank you

thanks for your encouraging words exactly what I needed :thumbup1: you are also right that comparing your children doesn't make me feel any better. The opposite.

I watched the video: "Susan Wise Bauer explains "Writing With Ease"" sounds really good I think I will give it a try when he is ready. Just not sure if I need sth. else until he gets there.

Thanks everyone. Is it necessary to use a writing program like the one mentioned "handwriting without tears"? Are there any other you would recommend? I don't know its' just so frustrating when you do the same thing for such a long time and he seems to not make that much progress. I am thinking I am doing sth. wrong. He is not good in reading either even though we finished the Reading Bear program:( I feel like I am failing in teaching him the most basic (easy) things (reading/writing). I am doubting if I will be capable of teaching him all the other stuff that is to come which is far more complex. A little encouraging words would be most welcome. Otherwise I might end up giving homeschooling up all together. If he is behind school children and even behind other homeschoolers then it pains me to say that it looks like I am failing.

I am aiming to do copy work soon but no idea how to get there.

lol handwriting without tears with us at the moment it's completely the opposite. It's handwriting WITH tears. He is 5 turning 6 in May and still cannot write words and sometimes even letters without "dotted lines". The words are basically pre printed and all he needs to do is follow these lines. We are doing this for almost a year now about 3-4 times a week one page but it's not getting any better. When I ask him to write without these pre printed lines he cannot or doesn't want to produce anything close to the letter or word he is supposed to write. He is learning how to write in two very different languages though. English and Arabic. You write Arabic from right to left unlike English left to right. I am not sure what the problem is. I am not using any writing program.

Hi everyone, I wanted to know from your experience, when is the best time (age) to start teaching my child how to write? In school they start quite early. With around 6 years the kids here in UAE do A LOT of writing practice. What is your opinion on this?

I was hoping someone could recommend a program which he or she has used and can recommend based on experience. I tried couple but they were not really good.

No one here knows a free map creator?? :confused1:

Hi everyone, could someone recommend a good "map creator"? I mean an online program where you can create your own map of the world and put your own pictures in (which you have saved on your computer for example)? Would be nice if you could put also cities, rivers, lakes, mountains in.

Yes that actually confirms what I thought that this is too early and the solution to the problem of PISA and other studies cannot be that we do more of that what school does and even earlier but to change the approach.

Could you recommend a good copywork creator? I found couple but they seem not to work:(

Thanks:) looks interesting will read it

In the UK First Grade starts with age 5. Here in Dubai with age 6 but we are following the British Curriculum. I compared my kids with the kids of my friends who go to school here and are sitting in First grade for 8 or 9 hours and do all the time writing (English and Arabic, Maths, Science, Computing etc.) but they are much more STRESSED than my kids for sure. And they act out their feelings much more. Their behavior is really difficult. According to Dr Laura Markham normal because she says that kids "act out their emotions which they cannot express verbally". You seem to be the only one who understands what I am talking about:( I am not taking my "ideas" only from her but she is referring to really good scientific studies and recently discovered facts about human Psyche. Her tips are working otherwise I would not practice them. Unfortunately my kids don't play often together in a way which gets them to giggle or laugh (which would release stress hormones and of course does not need to be in a dangerous way) and I don't know how to encourage them so I end up making them giggle and laugh which I find exhausting and I am not always in the mood. You are right. We are not always perfect and of course we yell sometimes and loose patience. Nevertheless it was very good to read how others are doing it and it encouraged me to relax a bit with "schoolwork".

Do you refer to some studies regarding this? Would be interesting to read more about it...

Thanks everyone very good advice. Yes sometimes I have to roughhouse or let them move first before they can sit down and focus. The roughhousing is so exhausting for me though:( maybe I am not physically fit... They have a nap in the middle of the day and only the older one practices writing, reading, math with Mammoth about half an hour before nap and half an hour to one hour after nap. wow 20 minutes but I guess these 20 minutes were probably VERY focused? Hm I understand what your are saying it is like Finnland style: decrease the work, increase the concentration?

@Quark and Calbear; I could not see your signature I was using my laptop.Can someone explain how to get there please

Hi everyone, I am following the "Peaceful Parenting" approach from Dr. Laura Markham where you use loving guidance and "teaching" based on a strong connection with your child instead of yelling or discipline. This is not supposed to become a parenting discussion rather I am seeking advice from parents with a similar parenting style. For those who are not familiar with the Peaceful Parenting concept and want to read about it, this is her website: http://www.ahaparenting.com/blog/how-to-get-your-kid-laughing-instead-of-crying I find it quite hard to help my kids (boys age almost 5 and almost 2) to release their stress hormones like adrenaline, cortisol etc. through laughing/bonding games, roughhousing and the like. It is just so exhausting and I feel like it needs at least an hour for my older one and about half an hour for the younger one which is also difficult because we get less work done. I feel like the more work (writing, maths etc.) we do the more emotionally loaded they are and the less we get to play these bonding/laughing games. Then their behavior becomes so bad (they acting out these feelings that they cannot even express verbally) and sometimes we cannot do any work or only very little because of all these emotions that have build up. I have to let my older one cry every day about 5-10 minutes (by setting a mild emphatic limit) in order for us to be able to do our schedule. Am I maybe doing too much sit down work with him? I am doing very little (maximum 1 and a half hours of sit down work divided) compared to schools. I cannot imagine how children are forced to sit still for so many hours and do soo much writing/reading etc. in first grade for example. I feel like they have much more emotions going on than my homeschooled son. Have you experienced something like that, where the homeschooling work is causing stress hormones to build up? How do you help your kids to release their tensions and stress hormones?

Thanks to everyone :001_smile: Looks like Singapore Curriculum is the right one for us then. Especially if you say it doesn't bore students with repetition. (You can always repeat yourself or complement with other math curricula). Saxon math also has probably a lot of repetition? @quark: Could you give us an example of how an interest driven learning of math looks like? Which grades are you homeschooling math at the moment? I am not from Dubai but from Germany. I have not been here to school nor have I taught here so don't know what it's like here.

Thanks for all the stories and comments. Unfortunately the debate went to far into health problems etc. Obviously they took it to an extreme where they don't have a life anymore and live only for this world, fail to fulfill the purpose of life (to worship God) etc. but I was more interested in what good can we learn from them and how can we apply it to our own homeschooling? (see my questions regarding math curriculum, Singapore etc.) Nice debate but not really answers to my questions yet :mellow:

Oh yes and forgot 4. Does anyone know how many hours a day the South Korean Schools teach the subject math to reach that kind of a level? Science would be also interesting to know how many hours it is studied in South Korea at Primary level.

Hi everyone, I recently watched this documentary which came out this year about the education system in South Korea: Initially I wanted to know what is so special about Asian Countries education. Why are they so high in ranking? I found out that it's because they study 14-16 hours a day, in some countries even 7 days a week with a lot of pressure and only about 4-6 hours of sleep a day. The South Korean children will do a math High School exam which is supposed to take about an hour in 15 minutes and find it too easy because it is what they do in Primary School! This documentary raised some questions which I couldn't find an answer for yet. 1. How come that Finland is so high up in the international ranking (comparison test) together with the Asian countries even though the study time of both Finland and Asian countries is so different (Finland: 4-6hours a day versus South Korea: 14-16 hours a day)? 2. Isn't the human brain working less effective under such extreme conditions like in South Korea? 3. Is the Singapore math curriculum which is everywhere available now really that fast (like in South Korea High School stuff at Primary)?

He liked some of the options very much so he is again a bit more convinced about homeschooling :hurray:

Thank you everyone! I just realized that College in the US means University. Of course have heard it before but forgot :huh: I am German and my husband is British so yes we meant High School which is Year 10-13 in the UK and Germany.